Rangers come alive in third period to come away with two points

For the first two-and-a-half periods, Friday's game against Toronto was nothing to write home about. Sure it was scoreless, but there wasn't much action. Halfway through the third period, though, the Blueshirts woke up and started skating with some purpose.

And look no further than the guys Tom Renney chose to go with for the shootout to see just how different the Rangers are this season. Renney went with Zherdev, Dawes and Sjostrom in the shootout -- and both Zherdev and Sjostrom were successful in bringing home a 1-0 shootout victory.

As for Zherdev, can we say we told you so yet? We love the kid; he's fast and brings an energy to the ice that the Rangers lacked late in games all last season given their old legs.

It's no surprise anymore when Valley plays that way. We expect that from him and he expects that from himself.

But Valiquette's start wasn't just good timing and instinct by Coach Renney. As Andrew Gross notes, Valley played because the Rangers turn around and traveled overnight to play in Detroit this evening at 7, and the team will have Henrik in net.

You wouldn't expect the Red Wings to have just 11 goals in four games, but they do. So before Marian Hossa and the Wings start lighting things up, the Rangers would be best served stomping on them when they're a little bit down down. To that end, Lynn Zinser notes that Hossa isn't quite adjusted to his new digs just yet.

Just one final note: someone tell Marc Staal that he shouldn't really fight anymore...his attempt was valiant, and his hit that brought about the fight was excellent (and perfectly legit), but the video doesn't exactly show a draw...